I confess: I’ve never watched an episode of “Girl Meets Farm,” the Food Network series that earned Molly Yeh nominations for both Emmy and James Beard Foundation awards.
But I’m deep enough into her new cookbook now to understand the appeal.
In writing “Home is Where the Eggs Are: Farmhouse Food for the People You Love” (Morrow, $32.50), the famed blogger picks up from where her 2016 debut book, “Molly On the Range,” left off.
That’s where readers learned how the Juilliard-trained percussionist came to share her online diary of everyday life as a fledgling epicure in Manhattan, fall in love with a trombonist named Nick, and move with him to his family’s sugar beet farm on the North Dakota-Minnesota border. While adjusting to her bucolic bearings, she bonded with chickens, honed her recipe-developing and food-styling skills, and eventually built a following of millions.
A lot has happened since then — most significantly, the births of two daughters. With motherhood, she writes, came “a newfound deeper meaning to mealtime, and a fresh perspective on food in general.”
“Home is Where the Eggs Are” revolves around the meals and snacks that fill a typical week on the family farm — some whipped up between nap times or at the end of a workday, others on lazy weekends with toddler participation. Her innovations meld elements of her Chinese and Jewish heritage, her husband’s Scandinavian ancestry, her early exposure to big-city cuisines, and the realities of rural living and family feeding.
You’ll find recipes for Seedy Halva Fairy Toast, Lefse Tot Breakfast Tacos, Chicken and Stars Soup (with made-from-scratch egg noodle “stars”), Crispy Coconut Rice with Shrimp, and Sweet Potato and Black Bean Freezer Burritos in a chapter of “handhelds” designed for the contemporary farmer’s lunchbox.
In the sweets chapter, tiny helping hands help her unleash nonpareils onto Jam-Filled Sprinkle Cookies, Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies, and The Official Family Cake that can be baked in layers for a party or as cupcakes for any day.
With warmth, wit and helpful instruction, she makes it all sound like delicious fun for everyone — messes and all.
Susan Puckett is a cookbook author and former food editor of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Follow her at susanpuckett.com.
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